The Newspaper 

Every day I am doomed to read

on newspapers

titles I always dreamt of averting.

 

Profound rivers of tears

flow, hewing the banks of letters;

letters come all smeared in blood of maids

molested just now;

the blank space between letters

seem forlorn

like the shabby hair-parting of a widow

from where, vermilion has just been wiped.

An orphan’s future

as dark as a tunnel

extends across the dark letters on the newspaper;

the unanchored stampede of a goalless procession

and incessant serial killings attributed to ‘revolutions’

reeking nauseatingly on letters of the newspaper

 

Dreams like life should have

playfully pervaded

the pages on the newspaper;

they should have borne in them

the symphony of success.

But alas!

How could we be fortunate

to read on newspapers

the tales of simplicity and of people’s achievements!

The newspapers has, of late

turned into a raven’s thirst;

it has become a terror.

- Translated by Mahesh Paudyal

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Born in Jhapa, Bhisma Upreti has published 6 books of poetry and 6 books of essays. His works have been translated into English, Korean, Japanese, German, Serbian and Hindi and have appeared in Grey Sparrow, The Enthusiast, Orchestra, PEN Point, Our Voices, Indo-Asian Literature and other Nepali Literary Journals and magazines. He is the recipient of First prize in National Poetry Festival organized by Nepal Academy of Literature. Member of PEN Nepal chapter, Upreti got his Masters degree in Economics from the University of Southampton, UK. Upreti lives in Kathmandu with his family and works at Central Bank of Nepal.